COLOMBO: The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections Thursday asked the Treasury and parliamentary Speaker to recover the tax loss incurred by the state in providing a duty free car to former legislator Geetha Kumarasinghe. CaFFE in letters addressed to the Secretary to the Treasury and Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said the monies, said to be close to 50 million should be immediately recovered from Kumarasinghe who was unseated Wednesday. Most MPs had sold their duty free permit for amounts ranging from 20 to 22 million rupees.
The Court of Appeal ruled that she was not qualified to contest the August 2015 parliamentary elections because at the time she held dual citizenship. The court said she did not prove that she had renounced her Swiss nationality. The court also ordered the attorney general to initiate action to recover all costs the state had incurred during the period Kumarasinghe held onto a seat in parliament, including subsidised meals, free massages and body guards.
